The Start

Sunday 4th December 2011 marks the day when training started for the NF100 proper. Ok so I ran 25 miles two weekends ago but anything over a marathon distance is special so I chose this day as the start of my incredible journey to Australia and competing in the NF100

The route I took was along the canal towpath between Woking and Weybridge then the River Thames path into London. This route has varying conditions from smooth man made footpaths, rocky and rooty single track to wide open walkways along the Thames. The only major issue I’ve found by taking this route is water & flooding. The Thames is tidal and if you catch it at the wrong time of the day you find yourself taking a long detour – today I timed it right and the tide was out.

Conditions where chilly and cloudy with a few showers but bearable. I need to get used to running in all sorts of conditions because the weather in the Blue Mountains can be changeable on an hour to hour basis.

I felt strong, composed and focussed today and to give you an idea of how good that time is the last time I ran this route my time was 5:30 so I’ve taken 1hr 22 mins off my best previous time which is incredible. This is a great start to the 6 months of training that lie ahead of me.

I should probably mention that I broke my arm in a mountain biking accident back in July and had an operation to pin it all back together. This is still causing me some discomfort while running but its manageable and improves each week.

This run was mapped using a Bryton Rider35 GPS unit which I’m testing. Although its aimed at cyclists this tiny unit is perfect for long runs due to the incredible long battery time (up to 30 hours). You just put it into the side pocket of your pack and forget about it.